In New York and Chicago, legislators are going after the new trend of vaping. Vaping, like electronic cigarettes, delivers nicotine to the user by heating a fluid containing nicotine. In vaping, nicotine is delivered by heating a liquid containing variable amounts of nicotine, usually flavored, in a battery powered pipe. Critics want vaping regulated and subject to the same strict laws that apply to smoking. In their efforts to do so, they are piling one spurious assertion on top of another
The arguments put forward by those upset by vaping are predicted on error, assumption, and ignorance. One argument put forth by opponents is that vaping is a "gateway" to cancer causing products. This is an absurd argument, particularly in the age of growing pressure to legalize marijuana use. The chances of someone moving from vaping to tobacco are remarkably low. As anyone who as ever smoked can tell you, the first experience with tobacco is unpleasant. Acquiring the habit takes perseverance. One must work through the stinging eyes, the coughing, and foul smell before one gets comfortable with it. Vaping occasions none of those responses. Why would one trade the mild, scented taste of vaping for the harsh, bitter, and stinging effects of smoking, to say nothing of the serious risks smoking poses to one's health?
A second argument put forward by vaping's opponents is that it would cause confusion and thereby provide an opening for surreptitious tobacco use. It is contended that smokers could simply blend in. This is an equally ridiculous argument. While Vaping produces no odor or smell, a cigarette can be smelled from across a room. A smoker in a restaurant would quickly be discovered even in a roomful of vapor. Yes, opponents of vaping will say, but how will you locate the smoker amidst all the vapers? That would not be difficult. The smoker would be the one exhaling smoke and holding a smoking cigarette. Lastly, people who vape do so from pipes which cannot by any means be confused with a cigarette.
The last, and of all the arguments so far put forward, most credible criticism of vaping is that it is addictive. After all, the purpose of vaping is to ingest nicotine, a highly addictive substance. What is overlooked by those making that argument is that nicotine gum, lozenges, and patches contain nicotine as well. That is why people buy them. Yes, that's true you might say, that is why they are kept behind the counter so as to keep them out of the hands, and mouths of kids. It would not be difficult to take steps to keep vapor out of the hands of minors. Keeping vapor out of reach and requiring ID for its purchase would be more than adequate to address those concerns.
As a former smoker, I have seen, and felt, the benefits of vaping. In the two weeks since I quit smoking and took up vaping my sense of taste and smell have improved and my lungs have started to clear. I have even resumed running. With the option of choosing the nicotine level in vapor, I will be able to gradually reduce my dependency on it. In the mean time, I will let my wallet get a little fatter. Unless researchers are able to find some substantial health risks associated with it, and lord knows they are trying, the busybodies should keep quiet. Vapor might just be the silver bullet the anti tobacco lobby has been looking for.
